Super Bowl Sunday and domestic violence in LA

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest days in American sports. In Los Angeles, it’s also one of the biggest days for domestic violence.

Sundays in general have a higher than daily average of domestic violence reports. But that rises even more on Super Bowl Sunday. For every year except one over the last five years, Super Bowl Sundays have shown an increase in domestic violence reports when compared to an average Sunday from the same year.

On the day of the 2018 Super Bowl, the Los Angeles Police Department recorded 8% more domestic violence reports than an average Sunday in the city that year, and 32% more than an average day, which saw about 52 reports.

These increases raise troubling questions: Do big games impact reports of domestic violence? Our data is limited to LAPD reports. But there do appear to be connections. Check out our report on domestic violence during the World Series here.

One 2011 study found that domestic violence calls increased by 10% in six U.S. states with professional football teams on Sundays when the NFL had televised games.

We will look at data following Sunday’s game when it becomes available from the LAPD. LAPD encourage victims of domestic violence to report incidents and seek help. The LAPD lists emergency numbers here, including Los Angeles-based shelters and agencies.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233

Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-978-3600

Shepherd’s Door Domestic Violence Resource Center: 626-765-9967

How we did it: We looked at LAPD publicly available data on reports of domestic violence in Los Angeles. Learn more about our datahere.

LAPD data only reflects crimes that are reported to the department, not how many crimes actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data that the LAPD makes publicly available. On occasion, LAPD may update past crime reports with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.

Want to know how your neighborhood fares? Or simply just interested in our data? Email us at askus@xtown.la.